The tipping point: With two outs and nobody in the eighth inning, walks by Brian Bogusevic and Chris Johnson set the table for Jason Castro’s double just inside the third-base line that tied the score at three. The Dodgers untied it in the bottom of the ninth on a three-run homer by A.J. Ellis off Wilton Lopez. Wesley Wright got the inning off on the wrong foot for the Astros by hitting Andre Ethier with an 0-2 pitch.

On the mound: Dodgers manager Don Mattingly had seven batters hitting from the left side against righthander Bud Norris, and the strategy worked. The Dodgers turned it into a night of hard labor for Norris, who needed 116 pitches to get 14 outs. Though it ended a major-league high streak of 38 starts of five or more innings by the Astros, Norris did keep the game from getting out of hand. Enerio Del Rosario, Rhiner Cruz and Brandon Lyon shut out the Dodgers through the eighth.

At the plate: Bogusevic broke out of a 0-for-14 skid with singles in his first two at-bats, and he also drew a two-out and scored the tying run in the eighth inning. Johnson also reached base three times, one on a hit-and-run single to right that led to a run in the second inning and twice on walks. Still, the Astros stranded six runners the first three innings against Chad Billingsley and paid for it later.

Under the radar: The Dodgers scored two runs in the fourth and could have had more if left fielder J.D. Martinez hadn’t made one of the best running catches of his life, robbing A.J. Ellis of extra bases. Martinez crashed into the wall on the play and hurt his right shoulder, but he stayed in the game. He said he felt a pop in the shoulder but felt better as the game progressed.

• • •

LOS ANGELES – In the land of Blue Heaven, Astros pitcher Bud Norris came back down to earth.

It wasn’t a crash landing by any means, but it was the end of May as Norris had come to know it.

The Astros cushioned the blow a bit by taking Norris off the hook for the loss, only to have their four-game winning streak come to a jolting end when a walk-off home run by A.J. Ellis in the ninth inning delivered the Los Angeles Dodgers a 6-3 victory.

It took three hours and 50 minutes and 333 pitches for the Astros to drop to 8-2 in games started by Norris this season. It took 4 2/3 innings for the Dodgers to get Norris, who had allowed one earned run in winning his first four starts of the month, out of the game.

“We battled hard for nine,” Norris said. “It’s a tough one to swallow.”

The ninth inning began to take on a bitter taste for the Astros when lefthander Wesley Wright (0-1) hit Andre Ethier on an 0-2 pitch. After a sacrifice put Ethier in scoring position, Astros manager Brad Mills called for Wilton Lopez to intentionally walk James Loney (3-for-4). Ellis, who had struck out in both his previous career plate appearances against Lopez, walloped a 1-2 sinker over the left-field wall to trigger a celebration by a crowd of 36,561.

Wright lamented the 0-2 fastball to Ethier that got away, ending his outing after three pitches.

“I felt like I had him exactly where I wanted him,” Wright said. “I tried to go in, and went too far in. It’s kind of frustrating, because we had a chance to win the game, and that ultimately set the inning off to a bad start. It’s definitely going to be a tough one (to swallow), but that’s why we come out and play tomorrow.”

The Astros are still looking to win a road series for the first time this season. One night after beating Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, the Astros couldn’t capitalize on having the hottest pitcher in the majors on the mound. Unable to solve a lineup that had seven Dodgers batting from the left side, Norris needed 116 pitches to get through 4 2/3 innings. He allowed three runs on eight hits and four walks, raising his ERA for the month from 0.35 to 1.17.

“I struggled, that’s all there is to it,” Norris said. “I didn’t have my best stuff. There’s no excuse for that. They really made me work for all my stuff.”

Dodgers righthander Chad Billingsley wasn’t exactly cruising, either, allowing eight of the first 16 Astros hitters to reach safely. The Astros had only two runs to show for all that traffic on the bases, leaving Norris with precious little margin for error.

For the second consecutive night, a first-inning double by Jose Altuve led to an Astros run. A two-out single by Carlos Lee gave the Astros a 1-0 lead against Billingsley, who got roughed up for a career-high nine runs (five earned) in a 12-0 April 22 loss at Minute Maid Park.

The Astros took the lead to 2-0 in the second on two singles and two walks, the latter free pass coming by Jordan Schafer with the bases loaded to force in a run. The bases were still loaded with one out for Altuve, who struck out. J.D. Martinez lashed a line drive to right field, but Ethier thwarted the Astros with a diving catch.

“I felt like we had them,” Martinez said. “The one I hit to Ethier … if that ball falls or gets by him, it’s probably a different outcome to the game. He got away with one there.”

An inning later, Ethier delivered a two-out double that drove in Elian Herrera. That cut the lead to 2-1, and matched the number of runs Norris allowed in his first 28 2/3 innings of the month.

The Dodgers stayed after Norris in the fourth, sending eight men to the plate. Norris was on the cusp of escaping a second-and-third jam after striking out Billingsley for the second out, but Tony Gwynn delivered a two-run single to right on a 1-2 slider to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead.

“I struggled to find consistency,” Norris said. “I struggled to find command. But I’ve got to go out there and keep battling, keep those guys close. They definitely fouled off a lot of stuff. That’s what they’re trying to do – make me make mistakes in the zone. The ones I did, they punished me for it. A lot of credit goes to their team and their offense for doing stuff like that. They’re good at having professional at-bats. That’s why they’re as good as they are.”

Still trailing by a run with two outs and nobody on base in the eighth inning, the Astros sprung – OK, walked – into action. Ronald Belisario walked Bogusevic and Chris Johnson, and Jason Castro greeted Kenley Jansen with a run-scoring double just inside the third-base line.

The balance of the game tilted back in the Dodgers favor when Ethier reached base in the ninth against Wright, who has limited lefty hitters to three hits in 29 at-bats this season. The Astros hopes of getting to .500 after the 40-game point of the season for the first time since they were 53-53 on Aug. 2009, disappeared – at least for now – when Ellis lofted the ball to a place where it was inhumanly possible for Martinez to catch.

“Any time you see those, it sucks,” Martinez said. “You’re playing so long, you battle so long, back and forth. You’ve just got to forget about it, wash it, come back tomorrow and try to win the series.”